Fans have a tendency of piling onto Yamcha for his absolutely pathetic track record in Dragon Ball Z, with his famous death serving as the ultimate symbol of just how weak he really is. But a later fight during the same battle proves that Yamcha's death actually isn't nearly as embarrassing as fans think.
The irony is that, moments before dying, Yamcha obviously celebrated an ostensible win against his designated Saibaman a little prematurely. After blasting the creature into a giant crater, the Saibaman jumps onto Yamcha, who was in the middle of a giant taunt, and self-destructs in Dragon Ball Z chapter 21 by Akira Toriyama. The resulting blast kills both Yamcha and the Saibaman, yielding the famous image of Yamcha huddled in the fetal position in his own crater.
Nappa Fell Victim to Same Trick Yamcha Did
The circumstances of Yamcha's death aren't really that pathetic based on events in chapter 23. After Yamcha's death, Nappa soon goes on the offensive and targets Tien, effortlessly punching off the human's arm before axe-handling him into the ground. But Nappa's onslaught is cut short when Chiaotzu latches onto his back in the same way as the Saibaman did to Yamcha a few chapters earlier and then self-destructs in the same manner.
Of course, the end results are vastly different. Yamcha didn't survive when the Saibaman self-destructed while Nappa walks away essentially unscathed from Chiaotzu's sacrifice. But it's noteworthy that both the human and Saiyan fall prey to the same type of attack. Some might use this as an excuse to poke fun at Nappa since he isn't the brightest of fighters, but he's actually quite a formidable foe. What made him so terrifying was that he obviously wasn't fighting seriously against Piccolo, Krillin, Gohan, and Tien and yet still dominated them. Compounding this fact was that Vegeta was clearly much stronger than Nappa, making the prospects of winning against him even less likely because if Earth's heroes were struggling this much against a weaker fighter, how could they possibly survive against his superior?
Nappa might be dense, but he is still a capable fighter. As a result, the fact that a terrifying warrior like Nappa fell prey to the same attack as Yamcha did greatly minimizes the embarrassing factor of Yamcha's death. Is it because it was a Saibaman who killed Yamcha? That shouldn't be a factor since the Saibamen possessed the same power level as Raditz did. , Goku and Piccolo couldn't even defeat Raditz without Goku sacrificing himself. Yamcha almost beat and was essentially killed by a creature with the same power level as a foe Goku couldn't defeat in Dragon Ball Z. That's pretty awesome, actually
Dragon Ball Z can be read on Viz.com.
